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CFD Leads to Improved Propeller Design Concept

Posted Thu June 05, 2014 @08:39AM

The FPP Opti Design, a new state-of-the-art fixed pitch propeller (FPP) design concept, has been introduced by Wärtsilä. The new design offers fuel savings of up to 4 per cent and highly reliable full scale performance predictions. The concept has been developed utilising the latest computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology.

The Wärtsilä FPP Opti Design has been developed at the company’s Technology and Service Centre in the Netherlands, and is the result of highly experienced design engineers having access to the very latest and most sophisticated software and analysis tools. CFD calculations analyse not only the propeller performance but most importantly also, the interaction between the propeller and hull. This provides extremely accurate information to achieve design and parametric optimisation.

CFD calculation of propeller fitted on a vessel.

“Wärtsilä has more than 100 years of experience in developing high quality propeller solutions. To this huge knowledge resource we have now been able to add a highly sophisticated state-of-the-art design approach that is unmatched in the industry. The hull and the propeller, and the interaction between the two, can both now be taken into account during the design process. The result is a higher level of efficiency and lower operating costs,” says Arto Lehtinen, Vice President, Propulsion, Wärtsilä Ship Power.